First Varsity Eight Wins Bronze as Host U-M Places Fifth at Big Tens

Saturday, May 3

Belleville, Mich.

8:00 AM

Michigan

Big Ten Heats

First Varsity Eight Wins Bronze as Host U-M Places Fifth at Big Tens

5/3/2008 12:00:00 AM | Rowing

By: Matt Trevor

Site: Belleville, Mich. (Belleville Lake)
Event: Big Ten Championships
U-M Team Finish: 5th Place of 7 Teams (90 Points)
Next U-M Event: Sat-Sun., May 17-18 -- Central/South Region Sprints (Oak Ridge, Tenn.)

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BELLEVILLE, Mich. -- The No. 11-ranked University of Michigan women's rowing team finished in fifth place out of seven teams at the 2008 Big Ten Rowing Championships on Saturday (May 3). U-M's strongest effort came from its first varsity effort, which finished third overall.

No. 6 Michigan State won the overall team championship with 150 points as a result of receiving first-place finishes by its first varsity eight, first varsity four and second varsity four. Finishers two through four were Wisconsin (114 points), No. 14 Ohio State (112) and No. 16 Minnesota (104), while Iowa (40) and Indiana (31) took sixth and seventh, respectively.

The Wolverine first varsity eight missed out on first place in the grand final by a margin of 5.17 seconds. U-M, Michigan State and Ohio State went back and forth down the course in a battle for the top positions. The Spartans won out in the sprint with a time of 6:31.00, followed by Ohio State (6:33.64), which was half a length back. Minnesota was a full boat back of Michigan in fourth. In the morning, U-M's first varsity eight was second to the Spartans.

Michigan's second varsity eight did not have a strong start to the day as it placed third in its morning heat -- close to 12 seconds behind the winning Wisconsin crew and seven seconds behind Minnesota, which earned the other bid into the grand final. The Wolverines regrouped in the afternoon and won the petite final by a length (6:58.00) over Indiana (7:02.54) and Iowa (7:04.87).

Similar to the second varsity eight, the Maize and Blue first varsity four finished third in its preliminary heat, which relegated it to the petite final. U-M went on to win the first varsity four petite final by open water (7:58.88) over Indiana (8:11.13) and Iowa (8:18.01).

U-M's second varsity four was the second crew to qualify for its grand final, where the Wolverines took fourth (8:12.22) behind MSU (7:52.00), Wisconsin (7:54.51) and Minnesota (8:00.51). Earlier in the day, the second four took second (7:26.97), just 1.19 seconds behind Minnesota and less than two seconds ahead of Ohio State.

Michigan's first novice eight placed fourth in its grand final with a time of 7:27.90. The winning boat, UW, clocked in at 7:09.80. The first novice eight was second in its morning heat.

The second novice eight finished second in the petite final to Ohio State, which won by a 2.39 second margin. U-M's second novice eight missed out on the grand final by a mere half second in the morning heat.

The Wolverines are off next weekend before they head to the Central/South Region Sprints on May 17-18 in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The Central/South Region Sprints serve as the primary qualifying races for the NCAA Championships, which are slated for May 30-June 1, in Sacramento, Calif.

Quotes

Michigan Head Coach Mark Rothstein
On U-M's fifth-place overall finish ... "We're going to have to regroup. We had some disappointing finishes, particularly in the second varsity eight and the first varsity four. I think those crews are going to get better. It wasn't a good day for them. I'm confident that we'll do better in those events. I thought our first varsity eight raced ok today, but to win a race like this you have to have a great race and we didn't have that today. We have a lot of work to do."

Michigan Lineups

First Varsity Eight: Laura Dunn (coxswain), Adrienne Mecham, Lori Gordon, Sarah Gribler, Grace Luczak, Ashley Kroll, Karen Colwell, Cate Trumble, Julia Nelson.